


The Engagement Feast

by thewalkingdeadimagines



Series: The King [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M, King Negan, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), Protective Negan (Walking Dead), Sexual Attack (not by Negan), Sexual Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26705149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewalkingdeadimagines/pseuds/thewalkingdeadimagines
Summary: When the Reader is about to be forced to be married off to an obnoxious Lord, a certain guest at the engagement feast turns everything around.Medieval inspired AU
Relationships: Negan (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s), Negan (Walking Dead)/You
Series: The King [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943431
Kudos: 18





	The Engagement Feast

People can be terrified of many things. Some fear heights, almost faint when they just have to step on a ladder. Some are afraid of thunderstorms and hide shaking beneath their blankets when thunder rumbles through the air and streaks of lighting crawl over the sky. Others are scared of the darkness that lets them tremble like an aspen leaf as soon as they are surrounded by it.  
And you? You were terrified of the ring that laid on the edge of your bureau, of the deep blue of its gem stone, of the golden curlicues that were embracing it, of the engraving that was inwrought into its curves.  
It was a silly thing, truly, to be afraid of a piece of jewelry that could technically do no harm, not even hurt a single hair on your head. But it actually wasn’t the ring itself that scared you to the core, it was the engagement that was tied to it, to the gem, to the curlicues, to the engravements.  
A cold shudder washed over your back as you glimpsed at it, watching how it twinkled in the last rays of sunlight that streamed through the large windows of your room, that would have diminished as soon as the engagement feast would start.

“I have your dress, I will come in now”, the sudden voice of your aunt made you flinch up, distracting your glance from the ring and guiding it to the heavy wooden door that flew open just a second later.  
She stepped in, a stern look on her face as she strutted straight forward to your bed, glancing only briefly at you, while you couldn’t take your eyes of the dress she was carrying in her arms. Long, powdery rose, lavish fabric was dropping down Muriel’s arms, adorned with magnificent patterns and twirls, a dress that must have costed a fortune, a fortune your family definitely didn’t have.  
The castle was in deep need for restoration, all workers had left except for two maids, a chef and a scullion and you couldn’t remember the last time you hadn’t worn something that had no holes torn into the worn out fabric and now, hell now your aunt had this dress in her arms.  
“How could we afford-”  
“It’s an early engagement gift”, she cut you off, only adding onto the suspense that was already filling your body as soon as she reached your bed, halting for a moment as she let out a sigh and adjusted the gown in her arms. It took only seconds for you to look at the dress with the same terrified glance you had met the ring with, urging you to go for another try to stop this all, just like uncountable ones last night.  
“I don’t want to marry him”, you choked out, watching as she draped the dress over your bed, “I won’t marry him.”  
“Not this again”, she groaned with a thick sigh, as if she was talking to a whining toddler, stirring up more of the restlessness and anger that was already whirling within you.  
”You will, period.”  
She turned around, meeting your glance with an icy one as your breath grew heavy in desperateness.  
“You know how much of a tyrant he is-”  
“Lance is part of a very well-deemed family, you are lucky to get this opportunity”, she snapped back before you could finish your sentence, stepping closer with a warning look on her face.  
“What?”, you asked, bewilderment swinging in your voice as you stared disbelieving at her ,”There’s a reason my mother declined his first request for me, she-”  
“Well your mother isn’t here anymore, is she?”, she barked back, and with that a coil in you snapped, bringing your blood to boil within split seconds. You fingers formed into a fist, pressing so hard into your palm that your knuckles turned snow white, all only to keep you from loosing your temper completely as your glance narrowed threateningly.  
“Don’t you ta-”  
“Careful!”, she snapped, cutting you right off as the hissing in her voice intensified,”This is the best for our family.”  
“No, this is the best for you”, you growled, huffing thickly as the heat of growing anger seeped into each and every of your cells, turning your voice into a quavering and wrath filled mess,”That’s why you told me just last night about this, right? So that I couldn’t do anything against it anymore.”  
She chuckled, shaking her head with a small, mocking grin on her face before her narrowed glance met yours again as she shrugged her shoulders.  
“Maybe, maybe not”, she said, confirming your suspicion with these few words that made it seem like she was just trying to ridicule you, before the grin on her face vanished,”It doesn’t matter anyway. Neither me nor your uncle will watch our family stay as poor as the goddamn peasants outside, we will rise again and you, my dear, will be the first step.”  
She huffed, leaving you speechless for a moment as she gave you one more cold glare before she strutted towards the door and let out a purposely long sigh.  
“Now get in your dress and hurry up, the guests will come soon.”  
With that she stepped out, leaving you alone in your room as soon as the heavy door fell with a dull thud into its lock and only the descending sound of her heels could be heard until it vanished completely.

Curses fell from your lips as you let yourself fall onto the squeaking bed, closing your eyes for a moment as you sunk into the sheets while a part of you just wanted stand on top of this castle and scream into sky until your voice would give up on you. Instead you stayed motionless on the bed, almost paralyzed by the burden that was pushing onto your shoulders while the anger for your aunt and this whole mess she created mixed with the grief for your mother that was still lingering in your bones.  
You missed her, you missed your younger sister. Everything had gotten worse since their deadly accident and your aunt and uncle had taken over, including this goddamn engagement.  
It wouldn’t have happened, not with your mom still in charge, she wouldn’t have married you off to Lance against your will nor to anyone else, no matter how hard the times were. You could have married when and whoever you wanted to, not this tyrant just to gain money and power. Shit, you could have lived a life as independent and as free as a bird and now you were gonna get caged up.  
A heavy, trembling breath let your chest rise and fall as your fingers gripped into the sheets, hoping for some release of the tension that was keeping your body in its claws until you heard the tolling of the clock that blazed abroad the beginning of a new hour, and with that the beginning of the feast.  
For a short moment, you kept laying on the sheets, only glimpsing from the side to the dress beside you as for the split of a second you debated to just keep laying here. Yeah, you couldn’t do that, no matter how much you would like to score off your aunt and uncle, in the end, they’d probably go as far as drag you out of this room. So now, well now you probably had no other choice than push yourself to finally get up and face the harsh reality.

With puckered brows and a testing look in your eyes you found yourself standing in front of the large mirror in the edge of your room, eyeing the rosé dress on your body as if it would attack and scarf you down in the very next second. You couldn’t deny, it was pretty, with the long and soft fabric that brushed along your legs, the lavish patterns that soared up the corsage and the sleeves that reached down to your elbow, still you could do nothing else than hate its feeling on your skin.  
Sighing deeply you tore your eyes from the dress and let it skip onto your face, grimacing as you saw your own reflection up close.  
The powder on your cheeks was one of the only things that covered your exhaustion at least partly up, letting it look like you hadn’t spent the whole night thinking about ways out of this engagement that in the end, all lead into a dead end and left you more hopeless than before. And still, there wasn’t minute you weren’t trying to come up with something new, something that would save you from this man and a life with him. And you did the very same thing as you forced yourself to leave your room behind and make your way downstairs, with the constant feeling within you to just storm into the opposite direction of the great hall, just as far away as you could.

”There you finally are, you almost made me come looking for you. Are you trying to embarrass us?”, the quiet but angered voice of your aunt split the air and ripped you out of your thoughts, snapping your glance up as she rushed around the corner of the last staircase.  
Shooting her a glare you heard her letting out a disgruntled huff as she urged you around the corner, putting on a fake smile in the very same moment her loud and contrived enthusiastic voice echoed through the high walls.  
”Here she is! Used all this time to get pretty for you.”  
An ice-cold shudder ran down your back the moment as your glance fell down the stairs, first only catching your uncle before your eyes swayed to the left and saw him turning around in just this moment. Blue eyes bored into yours, intensifying the shudder that seemed to know no end as a disgustingly sly grin formed on his lips. Tearing your eyes off him you only caught him running a hand through his ashblonde hair while his eyes stayed on yours as you made your way down the stairs even though every inch of you wanted to storm back up.  
Your aunt’s hand placed on your back as soon as you reached the last third, not in a reassuring manner, rather forceful, as if she had noticed the suspense filling your body and wanted to make sure you actually reached Lance.  
”I see you received my gifts”, he grumbled, guiding your attention back to him as you watched as his eyes wandered from the ring on your finger to the dress that was caressing around your figure, with a glance in his eyes that made you feel like he was about to devour you. Nausea was stirring up your stomach and crawled up your body until it clogged your throat, slowly robbing you of the ability to breath thoroughly.  
And then, with one last step you had reached him and before you knew it, his hand replaced your aunt’s on your back, sending shivers up and down your body from the spot he touched, enough to let you flinch.  
”Looks like someone’s nervous”, he laughed but instead of retreating his hand, he slung his arm around your waist, tight enough to pull you to his side and spread goosebumps of discomfort over your skin while you fixed your eyes onto the windows on the other side of the hall, just on anything but him.  
“We will leave the both of you alone for a bit, the guests will come any minute”, you just heard the voice of your uncle say, eliciting a panic within you in the matter of seconds, leaving you for the first time with the desire to have them stay with you, just to not be alone with him.  
Your pulse pounded in your ears as your glance snapped towards them, watching them disappear in the scurring people in working clothes you hadn’t even noticed until now in your panic and suspense filled bubble.  
”Oh these are all workers from my property, my family was so kind to make them available for this feast today”, you heard Lance murmur as he moved close enough to for his breath to brush over the side of your neck, fueling the tension that was rushing through your veins to the point you felt like you were about to explode. Nodding, you kept staring at the people that walked around you as you tried to move at least a little away from him, enough to not feel the heat of his breath anymore and his body pressing into your side.  
”God, you have to loosen up a little, you’re as stiff as a board”, Lance grumbled, crossing your plan as his hand only ran further over your body, down your back and south to a point that made new nausea wash over you ,”Can’t have that.”  
”I’m fine”, you firmly said, trying to pull yourself together as you finally moved away, keeping him from exploring your body any further.  
“Oh, she can talk”, he chuckled sarcastically, a slightly angered tone swinging through his voice as he stepped in front of you, forcing you to look at him and into his narrowed blue eyes ,”Well if you’re fine then look a little more like it, an engagement feast with a moody wife-to-be isn’t very well received…especially not by the groom.”  
”Well, the wife-to-be wasn’t asked if she agreed to any of this”, you responded, your voice quavering slightly from the tension that was bringing your heart to pound faster, watching his glance narrowing even more as you gave yourself another push to keep your cool, ”Why did you ask for my hand?”  
“Apparently good things come to those who wait”, he said, a sly grin forming on his lips as he stepped closer towards you and shrugged his shoulders,”Well, your mother didn’t accept my request for you and now, well now I have found a more…what was that word you used?…agreeable audience.”  
“The guests have arrived”, a loud female voice sounded through to you, finally letting Lance lean back to glance at the source of the voice somewhere down the hall.  
”Sure, Martha. lead them inside”, he only responded, nodding as he stepped away, already half on his way to finally walk to the main entrance to greet the guests before he turned around one more time to glance at you with a sardonic look on his face.  
”Oh, and put a smile on your face, looks much better.”

Frowning you stayed at your spot, refusing to follow him and play the happy fiancée while the first guests streamed inside the large hall and got seated at the long tables that were placed around the sides, forming a rectangle around what would later be the dancing floor.  
And from this moment on, from the moment on the people filled the hall and Lance walked back to you, you were like a walking shell of yourself, stuck in a trance. The things that were happening around you were blurred, keeping you detached from reality in order to protect you from going completely insane. Still, you hadn’t dived deep enough into this trance to not notice him, who seemed like a poison, acidity enough to burn into the protecting bubble you were trying to build around you.  
You heard your aunt calling out to clink glasses for the Lord and his fiancée, could feel the way he inched over to you during the dinner no matter how much you pushed yourself on the other side of the chair, could feel his wandering hands as soon as your uncle called for you to open the dance, the way his hand grabbed your waist to pull you against his chest no matter how hard you tried to keep your bodies as far as possible from another, no matter how cold your glance was towards him, no matter how uncomfortable you had to look to him, no matter how disgusted you felt by his mere presence.  
Your whole body began to feel numb the moment the dance ended, keeping you in your little bubble as the people around you started to engage in dances and Lance finally let go of you for a moment and left your side, answering the call of someone you couldn’t hear through your trancelike state and the loud music.  
It took a few more seconds for you to realize that you were still standing on the dancing floor all alone, between the couples that were twirling around you. Aimlessly you were beginning to move from your spot and through the people, only with the goal to get away from them and Lance, just as your eyes caught the tall glass windows and doors that lead to the balcony.  
You needed to get out there and catch fresh air, finally fill your lungs with it to get this oppressive feeling out of your body, right now.

Steering towards the balcony you rushed through the crowd, closer and closer until you were only a bunch of feet away from the open door, enough to feel the cool night air streaming inside before the sudden grasp of a hand grabbing you by your shoulder made you flinch up.  
“Didn’t you hear me before?”, you could hear Lance’s voice growl, splitting through the sound of the music as he hit you with an icy glare as soon as he had turned you around.  
“I said put a smile on your face and all you do is look like a picture of misery, you’re embarrassing me”, he added snapping, before he let out a frustrated sigh as he stepped closer towards you ,”And let’s be honest, you got enough reasons to smile about.”  
“I’m not so sure of that”, you mumbled under your breath as your glance drifted off of him, though it got directed right back at him the second he reached for your wrist.  
“What was that?”, he growled, enclosing his fingers around your skin, eliciting a wince to fall from your lips while you simultaneously tried to pull your hand away from him.  
“Let go, that hurts!”  
“That was the plan”, he growled, glaring dangerously at you as he came closer and breathed thickly out ,”Don’t you dare to disgrace m-”  
“Lance! We were just talking about that impressing weapon trade of yours, do you mind letting us in on the details? Raphael and I do have some interest”, the slightly slurring voice of an older man echoed through the air, ripping Lance’s attention for a now away from you and instead focused on the two men who were stumbling towards the both of you.  
“Of course”, Lance nodded towards the men, finally loosening the grip on your wrist until he let it drop, even though not without shooting you a warning glance before he strutted towards the two, the fake smile back on his lips. They vanished faster in the crowd than you thought, leaving you finally the possibility to breathe again and in this very moment, you couldn’t thank those two men enough. It hadn’t been their intention, of course, by the look in their eyes and the drunken grins on their faces they’ve already had a couple goblets of wine too much that sure had boosted their capacity for enthusiasm and recklessness for literally anything, including some impetuous deals. Still, those two drunks were keeping Lance off of you, at least for now so you could finally head off to your original destination.

The cool night air brushed over your skin as soon as you stepped outside, clashing against the heat of distress and restlessness that seemed to radiate from your body. Taking a deep breath you propped you elbows onto the stonewall at the edge of the large balcony and closed your eyes for a moment before glancing out onto the forest that was only slightly enlightened by the moon on the night sky. God, what you’d give to be out there, by some lake all by yourself, far away from this idiot inside.  
Sighing deeply you tried to dive a little into that wishful thinking, trying to let it protect you for a moment from the harsh reality before the loud laughing from the other side of the large balcony ripped you away from the forest. Instead it snapped your glance toward the pear of people that had formed there, including one man a little far off of them, leaning against the railing who shot the group an uninterested glance but caught your interest in this moment all the more.  
The man at the other side of the balcony was king of a neighboring territory, a large area that stretched over endless seeming woods and large lakes, a land that looked like the subject for an artist’s painting. You knew his name, Negan, and even though you’d never directly talked to him before, his appearance had always struck something in you, just like it was doing it with the way he was looking tonight.  
Black, slicked back hair, a handsome face that was adorned with a salt and pepper beard that caressed his cheeks and jaw, black garment that winched up his tall figure, a thick reddish cloak draped over his broad shoulders that marked with its lavish look his high status and with a glass of whiskey in his hand that was probably the only thing that had lured him to show up here.  
He was an infamous figure for sure, lulled in rumors of which no one actually knew which were true and which were nothing but hot air. The only thing you knew for sure about him was rather tragic, the loss of his wife six or even seven years ago after a long disease that eventually made her lose her fight against it.  
He didn’t seem all too excited about the feast as well, nor about the pear of people that was still standing on his side of the balcony, chattering loudly about a whirlwind of topics, including the wedding. You couldn’t blame him, actually, you did the complete opposite, his disinterest in them and the feast made him more likable than anyone inside this castle.  
Sighing quietly you decided to peel your glance off him and back at the forest to find as much peace as you could in them until reality would bare its claws and drag you back inside. But just as your glance began to sway back to the landscape his eyes caught yours for a split second, boring into you with such an intensity that let a sudden heat rise into your cheeks and spread goosebumps over your arms. Even though elicited partly by embarrassment of being caught staring they still weren’t the same Lance had elicited earlier, by far not, they were something else, something comfortable and desirable, something you couldn’t even put completely in words. And they remained right where they were, even as your glance met the woods again and the feeling of his eyes on your figure vanished a couple seconds later.  
Breathing deeply out your eyes drifted over the forest, over the softly swinging peaks of firs and leavy crowns of the trees, over an owl that drifted over the tops, searching for its next prey.  
“Why don’t you come over and join us?”  
You flinched up, striking your body straight up in the matter of seconds as your glance shot to your side, catching the face of Lady Ellette that eyed yours thoroughly. Her glance flickered over your face, a little narrowed, as if she was trying to read your mind, the glance you knew too well from her. She was a snarky woman, always had been, with the ability to find gossip at any given time and you could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn’t here to be nice to you. She was here to find new feed for her chitchat.  
“We were just talking about the wedding”, she said, the tone in her voice a little too sweet, the smile on her lips a little too bright compared the still snappy look in her eyes, “Must be an honor to get the chance to marry into such a well-deemed family.”  
You just stared at her, in your surprise still not really sure what to say before you caught her biting her lip as she eyed you once again up and down, so conspicuous that you could tell she wanted you to notice.  
”Your aunt always had an outstanding persuasiveness”, the snarky tone in her voice was now impossible to miss. An urge deep in you wanted to respond something, snap that arrogant look from her face but your energy was at its lowest, your head too clouded to grasp words, especially nothing sarcastic.  
“Excuse me, I have to get back inside”, you brought out instead, pushing a small fake smile on your lips as you pushed yourself past her, leaving her right at that spot and to her annoyance, with nothing new to gossip about.  
Curses boomed through your head as you made your way inside, damning that this woman had to steal away the last bit of peace you’d been able to reach tonight. The loud voices and the music that boomed through the ballroom were echoing through you as soon as you stepped foot inside, spreading goosebumps over your skin as your eyes rushed over the crowd.  
You couldn’t stay here, no fucking way.  
Someone else would come up to you, if you had luck even someone like Ellette, if you were unlucky, your aunt and uncle, or worse, Lance.  
Your surroundings already began to spin in front of your eyes as you finally reached the other end of the ballroom, just in time for you to flee the voices, flee the people here to not end up crushing against a wall to find hold.  
You rushed through the wide hallway, while your mind seemed to be completely detached from your body. You felt like you weren’t even consciously controlling it as it carried you down the hallway, up the first stairs you could reach until the first turn, just enough for you to be hidden from anyone at the stairs foot. Then, it gave up, forcing you to plop against the wall and breath for what felt like the first time since you had left the balcony.  
Your eyes fell shut as your ribcage erupted with more deep but strained breaths, amplified by the trembling feeling that had spread over you by now and the awful realization that this feast was only the beginning of this horror.  
And if your body was already reacting the way it was at this first step, you didn’t want to imagine what it would do as soon as the next would follow.  
You couldn’t do this.  
You couldn’t marry him.  
you couldn’t have him at your side all day.  
You couldn’t lay next to him at night.  
You couldn’t have him touch you.  
You couldn’t have his children.  
You couldn’t spend the rest of your life with him.  
You couldn’t.  
Tears burned in your eyes as you kept your lids tightly shut, as if it would help in any way to silence the terror in your head before it suddenly got even worse.  
“Now who do we have here”, Lance’s voice echoed through to you, tearing you out of your trance as you ripped your eyes open and watched him walking up the stairs,” Why would you flee from your own engagement feast?”  
Within a mere second your body was as straight as a board, tensed up to the very last inch as you already felt the panic taking over as you began to rush up the stairs. You couldn’t do this now.  
“You answer me when I ask you a question”, he called out, aggression filling his voice as your hands fisted the cloth of your dress tightly, half to not stumble over it on your way up, half to find a hold in anything. But just as you tried to go for a next step, a hand shot towards you from behind, grabbing your wrist so tightly that it felt like it was already leaving marks.  
“Let go of me”, you called out, trying to rip your arm away from him but instead of freeing yourself you found yourself trapped between his arms as he pushed you towards the wall, caging you with his own body.  
“I don’t think you understood me in the ballroom, and I most certainly don’t think you’re understanding me right now. When I talk to you, you answer”, he snarled, his face only inches from yours as his blue eyes bored into yours, fiery anger filling them and the rest of his face before the stern expression broke as his lips curled into a disgusting smile.  
“But you know, maybe it is not too bad that it’s just the both of us right now”, he said, each of his hands still holding your wrists tightly as he stepped close enough for you to feel his breath on your skin and his body pressed against yours, eliciting a nausea that pressed down onto your body and washed in waves over you.  
“Don’t touch me”, you growled, trying to move your wrists and keep him from gaining more power over you.  
“I touch you as much as I please, you my dear are my wife, and you answer to my call-”  
“I’m not your wife yet, and now let go”, you snapped now louder, glaring at him, even trying to move your leg up to push him away, just get him off of you but instead of meeting his crotch your legs got trapped like the rest of your body as he glared warning at you. You could hear footsteps somewhere down in the hallway as he pressed himself into you, yet they distracted you from him for a mere second in which you hoped that someone would just call for him to return to the feast and make him someone else’s problem.  
But there was nothing, no voice, just more footsteps that echoed through the high walls through to you before his voice pulled your attention back towards him and the disgust he elicited within you.  
“Exactly. Yet. You’re not yet my wife”, he growled, a dangerous twinkle in his eyes as they ran over your face,”But you will be soon, and as soon as this ring is on your finger-  
“Is there a problem here?”, a deep voice suddenly echoed up the stairs, followed by more footsteps that raised some hope back up in you as Lance turned his glance off you and down the staircase.  
“No, absolutely not. Why don’t you go back to the feast?”, he called out, yet still keeping the tight grip on your wrists as he tried to sound relaxed, even friendly through his strained voice. But before you could even traverse his plan by talking back, the footsteps came even closer and with one more second revealed a tall figure, clad with black garment and the reddish cloak that had caught your glance earlier.  
”I still have to finish this talk with my fiancée”, Lance added, finally loosening the grip on your wrists to make this situation appear less forced than it was.  
“Well it doesn’t seem like she wants to talk to you”, Negan quickly responded, the eyes that had brought goosebumps to cover your body earlier were now giving you a sense of relieve as they ran over your face. You nodded, enough for him to notice and confirm his suspicious, yet too unobtrusive for Lance to see and tighten his grip again on you or do even worse.  
“I don’t think this is any of your business”, Lance said now, the faked friendliness gone out of his voice and switched with the tension and anger that had lingered in his tone before.  
“Back off”, Negan barked, his dark brows were puckered in anger as he strutted up the stairs, closer to your step ,”You really think I can’t see how uncomfortable she is? Now get off her.”  
“You should-”  
“Or do I have to remind you of your echelon? Imagine all the flood of shit I could drop on you with the power my status holds compared to yours”, Negan growled the moment he reached your step, standing tall and threatening behind Lance who’s breath was growing heavier ,”I can make your life a fuckin’ nightmare, asshole.”  
Finally, his hands dropped from your wrists as a coil in him seemed to snap, realizing much to his despise that Negan was right with every single word he had just said. Grimacing in frustration he glared at you once more, warning and if he wanted to say with just a glance that this wasn’t over, before he rushed down the stairs, yet with the attitude of a toddler who had his toy taken away.  
You kept staring down the staircase, with your breath still uneasy and your body tensed up, even though the suspense slowly ebbed away as soon as you heard his footsteps descending.  
“You okay?”, the rough voice beside you asked that first made you glance back up at him ,”I mean, except for this bullshit.”  
“Yeah”, you slowly nodded, giving him a small, grateful smile ,”Thank you.”  
“No damn problem, really. Can’t stand those kinda fuckheads”, he said, the corners of his lips curling a little up, enough to look form the beginning of a grin before he ran a palm over his rough beard as he cleared his throat.  
“I wasn’t going after you though like some creep though, just saw that fucker’s face when you left. Looked a bit too damn fishy to me.”  
“Well, you were right”, you mumbled back, catching his hazel eyes running over your face for a moment, first letting you realize that it was actually him who got Lance off your back out of all people. And this realization was enough to let an odd warmth mix into the cocktail of feelings your body was already going though, which was at least keeping you from becoming all too nervous up close with him. Still, it stirred something up in you, even more than it had when you had seen him from afar.  
“Now you look like I should’ve rather pushed that fucker down the stairs and not just scare him off”, he chuckled throatily, the tone in his voice giving away that he was trying to lift your mood and ease the suspense that was still swinging so thickly in the air.  
”Sounds dark but I would’ve been fine with that”, you mumbled, gulping thickly as your glance jumped from him to the stairs and a dry chuckle left your lips, filled with bitterness of the reality,”Would probably be the only thing getting me out of that wedding.”  
As soon as your voice hushed, it got quiet, only the distant sound of music echoing through the thick walls, giving you the awful feeling that you had said something wrong, had sounded pathetic with that last sentence.  
Uneasily fumbling on the fabric of your dress, you finally glanced up at him, not catching a judgmental or annoyed glance in his eyes but rather a pondering one, combined with puckered brows that only relaxed after a couple more seconds as he cleared his throat.  
“Maybe not the only thing.”  
Poison, daggers, swords, yeah, they would sure help. With the only problem that you’d be executed shortly after, even though this couldn’t be much worse than a marriage to him. Innerly, you chuckled to yourself for having reached that bitter point that this seemed the only damn way out, simultaneously asking yourself what Negan had in mind. Either, he was just trying to make you feel a little less shitty about the situation with these words, that were in the end just words, or he had actually a proper idea, one, that hadn’t swayed through your head before in your sleepless hours and had been tossed away only shortly after because it was just a dead end.  
“Listen, I’m not trying to take advantage of that fucking shitty situation of yours or sleaze the fuck up to you, but-”, he finally disrupted your thoughts, guiding your glance back up to him as he ran palm over his cheek. His face had tensed up again, so as if he wasn’t quite sure how to continue and it kept you on your toes, asking yourself where this would lead. Why would you think he would take advantage of you? He had just helped you out of a pretty dicey situation, how could an idea of him now be something you could take the wrong way?  
“Well, my people have been calling for a new queen for a long time now”, he started, and slowly, slowly it dawned on you. Still, you hadn’t fully grasped it nor realized it what he was building this up to before he finally spoke it out.  
”Marry me.”  
“What?”, the word came out in what verged on a whisper, falling from your lips no matter the fact that you had already figured out where this would lead.  
“I’m not shitting you”, he said, his hazel eyes locking with yours, displaying something in them you couldn’t completely untangle yet,”Sure is a lot to take but as I said, I’m not trying to make some creepy ass play on you. I’m serious.”  
He was, you could see it in his eyes, could see it in the whole way he was standing there in front of you. Still, you couldn’t get it yet. Why the hell would he want you to marry him? Someone who’d been widowed for years wasn’t suddenly making the decision to marry again, especially not if they were king and you, well you were closer to being untitled than anyone in this castle, with a status so low it could almost be considered as nonexistent. And why was he asking you, out of all the women he could choose? Why-  
“You don’t have to take my offer, no pressure here. Just got the feeling it could be a win win”, he said, clearing his throat again as he glanced at you, quirking his lips up into the grin you had seen dancing on his lips only too often and which now seemed to be a try to hide something else beneath it, something that wasn’t as confident and cocky as his usual self.  
“Except your fuckin’ aunt and uncle are besties with that asshole’s family, then that shit’s a whole lot harder”, he said, watching as you shook your head.  
“No…it’s just about money and land, I-”, you mumbled, gulping thickly as you stopped and let out a nervous sigh,“I’m sorry….it’s just..it’s just a lot to process”  
“Now that’s no damn problem”, he said, nodding at you as he brushed his palm over the side of his jaw,”Let it go through your head, as I said, no fuckin’ pressure. I’ll be on the balcony for the rest of the night…can’t stand those assholes inside, gonna be honest ‘bout that…so if you made your decision, just tell me and we’ll take it from there.”  
He watched you, part of the tension still stuck on his face before he stepped down the first couple of steps and turned around to you with a wink that actually seemed rather supportive than flirtatious.  
”See ya, Sweetheart.”

What had just happened?  
What the hell had just happened?  
Befuddled you stood like glued to the spot on the stairs, watching as Negan disappeared behind the corner and left you baffled back, still trying to realize what had just happened. Your head was one big mess, stuffed full with thoughts and parts of your dialogue with Negan that was whirling through it like a stormy whirlwind.  
Just as Negan’s footsteps had descended as well, you could tear yourself from your place on the stairs and walk further up the stairs, off to a quiet place where you didn’t have to fear that Lance would come around the next corner or anybody else would disrupt you. With fast steps, you found yourself walking into one of the quieter corridors of the castle, up one of the towers until you reached its top and could stare into the night sky.  
Plopping down onto the stony ground you let out a small sigh before breathing deeply in and out as you closed your eyes and tried to sort your thoughts, especially Negan’s offer. The offer of a man you had thought hadn’t noticed you at all until today, god, the offer that seemed to surreal to be true and still, it was.  
Your weren’t even debating over marrying Lance or rather Negan. Negan couldn’t win any higher over Lace, that was no question. You were debating what other options you had besides marrying Lance at all, escaping an arranged marriage, something you had never wanted in any possible way.  
Slowly and as you were shifting against the cold stone beneath you, your mind swayed back to running away. You weren’t shying away from the risks it would bear, of having to live on your own outside, you were shying away due to the part in you that was thinking realistically in this mess.  
They’d get you, no matter how much you wished otherwise.  
One way or another, they would.  
As soon as they would notice that you were gone, they’d do anything to find you. No matter where you’d run, if just one person would notice or even recognize you, just give them a hint of where you were, you could bet that they’d spent days and nights to hunt you down. You were their only source of money and power and these people, they wouldn’t shy away from going all the way to get it.  
And if they’d finally get you, they’d try to marry you off again. If there was anyone who would still take you after earning the title runaway bride, you could count with someone similar to Lance, if no one would want you anymore you’d be worthless. And you knew what would happen if you weren’t worth anything anymore and just an unnecessary burden.  
They’d end you.  
You grimaced only by the thought of it, gulping thickly as you leaned the back of your head against the cold stone wall and buried your hands in the cloth of your dress as you allowed your train of thought to roll further down the trails, now slowly into the direction that had ‘Negan’ written all over it.  
His name was still connected to a whole mess of thoughts, wrapped in the questions over more questions. You still couldn’t tell why he had asked you out of all people, couldn’t figure out what his exact reasons where that he had been trying to hide behind the big grin and you continued to wonder it until you realized that after all, it had been his offer and hell, he was a grown man. He had to know what he was doing there. Beyond that, regardless of what you had heard of him, regardless if those dark rumors about the brutal hand he could have with people that were trying to trepan him and a whole other list of chilling deeds were actually true, he was still a boon compared to Lance. Not to mention the fact that you had just experienced him as the complete opposite and couldn’t deny what the wide, handsome grin and the roguish glance in his eyes elicited within you.  
Opening your eyes you stared up into the dark sky, gulping as you shifted over the cold ground and let out a thick sigh. It would still be an arranged marriage, somehow at least, but this was on your terms too, it would be your decision, and regardless of the fact that your options were pretty much limited, everything spoke in his favor. So what were you doing here anymore?

From this point on, it only took a couple of moments until you found your way down the stairs, going faster with each second, hoping that Negan would just have waited on the balcony as he had said. And as you made your way down, a small smile of relief sneaked onto your lips. You were getting out of the wedding with Lance, you wouldn’t have to spend your life with him, hell, you wouldn’t have to spend a single more second with him.  
Music was echoing through to you as you made your way through the hallway and finally reached the great hall, without even paying much attention to the drinking and talking people you shoved yourself past, nor the twirling couples you almost bumped into. You weren’t gonna let anybody stop you now, you weren’t gonna have your aunt or even Lance keep you from doing this. And then, the smile on your lips grew a tiny bit brighter as you finally reached the large glass windows and finally felt the cool air back on your skin, giving you the sweet release that you had almost made it.  
Still, your eyes kept rushing over the balcony, over Lady Ellette and her chattering group that was still surrounding her before you caught him standing right where you had stood before, leaning against the railing and staring down into the woods. You couldn’t deny the goosebumps that spread over your arms as you made your way towards him, sure of the fact that this decision would change the direction of your whole life though you hadn’t completely realized it yet. Still, you kept yourself from slowing down and just as you got closer, just as your heart began to beat faster with the nervousness that was rushing through you, the sound of your footsteps made him turn around and finally, open the stage for you to speak out what would be the beginning of your new life.  
“I take your offer.”


End file.
